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BFF

We know that the Grateful Dead circle encompasses a great variety of close attachments and fond acquaintances (think Al and Tipper Gore, Bill Walton and Phil Jackson, Patrick Leahy and Nancy Pelosi.) But somehow one of the sweetest friendships seems to have been between Mickey Hart and Walter Cronkite. Since Cronkite’s death several very intimate stories have been told about their 22 years of being “dear, dear friends.” Mickey tells the story in Leah Garchik’s San Francisco Chronicle column of July 31 about Walter playing drums at his place. “And I invited him to see the Grateful Dead, and we kind of fell in love around all those exciting things. It was such a trust; he was such a treasure.” Cronkite apparently “loved marching bands, Sousa and Dixieland, and he loved the Grateful Dead.”